Avoiding Overpopulation in the U.S. the United
The United States has managed to achieve a stable reproductive rate. That is, as of 1999, our fertility rate is 2.0, meaning that for each two adults we are having two children. (Carter, 1999) This has no doubt been…
Racial categories and their social construction
The concept of race has had a profound impact upon human history. However, it is also a scientific fiction. Genetically speaking, members of one 'race' can have many genetic dissimilarities. As a species, different 'races' share more in common than they differ as human beings. This paper argues that race is no longer a useful construct with which to analyze human society.
Institutions and International Relations Question
In her essay on the barriers to cooperation that limit effective communication between state actors within the international arena, Jennifer Sterling-Folker posits that three primary types of barriers to cooperation exist in the realm of international relations: Domestic, Structural, and Cognitive. According to Sterling-Folker, the domestic political climate within a pair of seemingly willing allies may preclude them from engaging in productive diplomatic negotiations, such as when impending national elections cause national policymaking to refocus on internal affairs. Structural barriers include the lack of common ground between communist and capitalist economies, and the gulf in understanding which separates dictatorships and democracies. Cognitive barriers are those which arise from ideological motivations, such as theocracies refusing to communicate with competing religions, or secular states scoffing at the religious norms of their neighbors. The liberal concept of interdependence, or providing a clear incentive to cooperate through the construction of complex institutions, is also discussed by Sterling-Folker, who observes that barriers to communication within world politics is due to the fact that nations invariably develop as autonomous entities with unique political, social, and economic structures.